


And Beyond

by SailorSol



Series: To Infinity [2]
Category: Firefly, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bot Feels, Bots IN SPACE, Clinging, Crack, Crew as Family, Crossover, Families of Choice, Family, Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Happy Ending, Immortal Avengers, Reunions, Robots, Separation Anxiety, Snark, Team as Family, Tissue Warning, Wash Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-29
Updated: 2014-10-29
Packaged: 2018-02-23 03:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2531999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorSol/pseuds/SailorSol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>Patience was a virtue with which JARVIS had been programmed, and at times like this, it was more than helpful. It had rarely been so difficult to wait before, though. But this required a certain degree of discretion else an unfortunate confrontation might occur.</em>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Or, the one where JARVIS arranges a reunion with the Avengers team and the Serenity crew gets to witness the insanity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Beyond

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starpaint](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starpaint/gifts).



> Because while "Ever After" was more or less a happy ending, I got to thinking about the various ways the Avengers could be immortal, which led to me thinking about the Avengers in the Firefly universe and the fact that JARVIS would do everything within his power to find Tony again. So. Yeah. And then the cute little reunion fic spiraled into a 6.5k monster of fluff and adorableness and angst.
> 
> Lots of love to starpaint, IShouldBeWriting, and Lovechilde for the beta and support. <3.

* * *

“If—”

“No.”

“But—”

“I said no, Tony. I’ve said no the last seventy-three times you’ve asked, and I’m going to keep saying no until you remember the fact that I have been and always will be more stubborn than you are.”

“We wouldn’t be having this problem right now if you and Skywalker there hadn’t gone off to join the Rebel Alliance,” Tony groused.

Steve just rolled his eyes. They’d been having this argument for the last ten or so years, and would probably be having it for another thirty or forty before they found something new to fight about. “You can build us a new ship when we’re farther out from the Core. Unless you want the Alliance begging you for toys every time you turn around.”

It had only taken nearly five hundred years for Tony to finally learn the concept of discretion. The lesson didn’t always stick, but Steve was always happy to remind Tony about the _last_ time he’d let the wrong people catch wind of his skills.

“But a _Firefly_ , Steve? I can build a better ship with scrap parts, and we wouldn’t have to worry about misaligned couplings causing the engine to stall while out in the middle of that giant vacuum we call space.”

“If you’re that worried about the state of the ship’s engine, offer your services as a mechanic,” Steve suggested, patting Tony on the shoulder before walking away.

* * *

The woman caught Kaylee’s eye even before she approached _Serenity_. She was absolutely stunning in a way that only someone like Inara could usually achieve, but unlike Inara, she wasn’t wearing anything fancy. But her sleek strawberry blonde hair practically shined in the dusty sunlight of the docks, and she carried herself with the same grace of the finest companions.

And then the woman stopped in front of _Serenity’s_ ramp, giving the ship an assessing look before shifting her gaze to Kaylee, who felt suddenly self-conscious in her coveralls. “Hi,” Kaylee said, as cheerfully as she knew how. “C’n I help you?”

“I’m looking for Captain Reynolds,” the woman replied. She held out one manicured hand towards Kaylee, who took it carefully, like she might break it. “Pepper Potts. I believe he’s expecting me.”

“Oh. Oh! Right, you must be from that group that’s lookin’ to fly with us,” Kaylee said. “Uh, come on up, and I’ll just get the captain for you, then.” Ms. Potts smiled and followed Kaylee up the ramp into the cargo bay. She could see Simon lurking in the infirmary, and Jayne was keeping himself busy lifting weights, but Kaylee knew he was keeping an eye on her more than anything. She smiled towards both of them, and hit the comm button. “Captain, Ms. Potts is here to see you.”

The captain came down the stairs from the direction of the bridge, pausing on the landing as he got a better look at Ms. Potts. “Captain Reynolds,” he introduced himself as he came the rest of the way down, hooking his thumbs around his suspenders instead of offering a hand. He was smiling, but Kaylee knew her captain well enough to see the wariness in his stance. “Why don’t we go up to the lounge and make ourselves comfortable.”

As Ms. Potts headed towards the stairs to the lounge, the captain gave Kaylee a significant look and then looked up towards Inara’s shuttle. Kaylee grinned, taking the hint; the captain was screwed without Inara’s help on this one.

* * *

In some ways, Captain Reynolds reminded Pepper of a combination of Steve and Tony; charming in a gruff sort of way, laid back with a soldier’s wariness, and a protectiveness of his crew—his _family_ —that reminded Pepper of her own ragtag family.

“I’ll need payment up front,” Captain Reynolds said, trying to sound somewhere between casual and demanding.

Pepper did her best not to give him a patronizing smile; it wasn’t his fault that she had been making business negotiations with people much more powerful and charismatic than him for more centuries than he had decades. “You’ll receive half up front and half when we safely reach our destination,” Pepper replied, making sure not to leave any question in her tone. “And if we are satisfied, there’s the potential for a bonus upon arrival.”

That got his eyes to light up, but he tried to school his expression towards something neutral. “I was under the impression that you didn’t have much coin to offer.”

She did smile now, but she softened it to something approaching wry. “And risk being taken advantage of by unscrupulous people? Rest assured, Captain, you will be fairly compensated for your services, if you agree to the terms.”

He opened his mouth—probably to argue about the need to agree to her terms—but was cut off by a woman entering the lounge carrying a tray with a teapot and several cups. Just by the way she carried herself, it was obvious to Pepper that this woman was a Companion. She hadn’t realized a boat like this would have a woman like that on board. That would make things interesting.

“May I offer you some tea?” the woman asked, placing the tray down on the table while giving the captain a not very subtle look that clearly said _behave_.

“Please,” Pepper replied, both for the sake of politeness and because Companions had access to better quality tea than most people could get. It wasn’t anywhere near as the loose leaf Bruce used to keep in the Tower, but not much out here in the black was as good as it had been on Earth.

The Companion didn’t go through a full tea ceremony, simply pouring out three cups instead. The captain took his but put it down on the table after a cursory sip. Pepper inhaled the fragrant steam before sipping. “I haven’t had tea this good in years,” she admitted.

“Thank you. It’s a special blend. My name is Inara, by the way,” Inara said, in an off-hand sort of way. If Pepper hadn’t lived the last five hundred years alongside people like Bucky and Natasha, she might have been taken in by Inara’s demure personality. “May I ask what drew you to _Serenity_?”

“You were the first ship to respond to our advertisement,” Pepper answered honestly. “I have another meeting with a prospective captain this evening.” Just the right amount of pressure, but Captain Reynolds and Inara exchanged a glance that Pepper couldn’t entirely read; they were amused by something she had said, but Pepper had no idea what.

“I suppose that is a reasonable answer, for now. Perhaps you would be willing to tell me the truth when we reach your destination,” Inara said, standing gracefully.

“That’s assuming we decide to use you,” Pepper replied.

Inara’s smile grew, just a fraction. “Of course. If you’ll excuse me.”

Captain Reynolds had slouched down on the couch and was scowling. “There are some areas that are off-limits to passengers. Bridge, engine room, crew quarters, such like.”

Pepper nodded her head. “Thank you. I’ll be in touch by tomorrow,” she told him. He didn’t look entirely pleased, but he shook her hand when she offered it and escorted her off his ship. She’d still go see the other ship, but she had a feeling this was their best bet.

* * *

Steve may have been functionally immortal these days, but the one thing he hadn’t tested was how the super solder serum would stand up to the vacuum of space. It wasn’t something he was keen on finding out, either, considering that even nearly six hundred years later he still has the occasional nightmare about crashing into the ice.

So he could admit to some trepidation when he caught sight of the ship that they’d booked to Omaha (Clint had picked their destination this time, and he’d thought he was being funny). The outside was nothing to write home about; careworn would be a generous description. But the cargo bay was neat and clean and Pepper had said the lounge was cozy.

The crew—or at least Steve assumed they were the crew, some of them looked painfully young—were lined up inside when Steve and the others came on board. Captain Reynolds was easy to pick out, mostly because Steve had reviewed his service record.

“Welcome aboard,” one of the young women said. Her dark brown hair was pulled back out of her face, and there were grease stains on her coveralls alongside a fuzzy brown teddy bear patch. She reminded Steve of Darcy, in a distant sort of way.

The other girl, her dark hair falling loose towards her waist, was watching them closely, like she was trying to figure out a complicated puzzle. Steve offered both girls a smile. “Steve Rogers,” he introduced himself, before gesturing behind him. “You’ve met Ms. Potts, and my other companions are Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark, and Sam Wilson.”

The girl in coveralls blushed. “I’m Kaylee. I’m the mechanic, and this here’s River,” Kaylee said, gesturing to the younger girl. “Her brother’s Simon, he’s our doctor. You’ll meet Zoe and Wash and Jayne later. And of course, our captain!”

“Does Inara not travel with you, then?” Pepper asked. If she didn’t, that would be one less headache for Steve to worry about. At least he’d only have to keep a leash on Bucky, with Nat and Clint already gone ahead of them to their latest planet of choice.

But bringing up the Companion was obviously a sour note with Captain Reynolds. “She mostly keeps to herself, and has a strict policy against servicing passengers.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Steve said. “So. Quarters?”

“We got four rooms open,” Kaylee said, leading them towards the back of the cargo bay and up a short flight of steps. She gave Steve an apologetic smile. “Two of you’ll have to bunk up.”

“That won’t be a problem,” Pepper said, sliding her arm around Tony’s waist. Five hundred years and she was still putting up with him; some days Steve didn’t know why.

“Well, uh, go ahead and choose rooms then, I guess. The kitchen’s right up these stairs. We’ll probably be taking off in a couple of hours,” Kaylee said, and then she was gone.

Tony and Bucky started a scuffle towards the doors of the closest room. Pepper sighed and Sam shoved an elbow between them, both breaking up the fight and clearing himself a path towards one of the other rooms. “Come get me when it’s time for your ever-inspiring _behave yourselves, no really you’d better listen to me this time_ speech,” Sam said, sliding the door shut behind him.

* * *

“Couldn’t find much on them,” Zoe said. Mal had dragged her into the spare shuttle the moment they’d come back from fetching supplies. Last time he’d had passengers, it had turned into a mess that they were still picking up pieces from. “Rogers and Barnes both fought for the Independence though.”

Browncoats, at least.

“Fought for lots of things,” River said, scaring the crap out of Mal when she melted out of the shadows.

“What in the _gorram_ hell have I told you about that creepy shit, _mei mei_?” Mal demanded.

“I should stop,” River said. She hadn’t used that particular tone in months. Mal tried not to think about what it might mean, because it probably meant trouble and he’d had quite enough of that for a lifetime. “They’ve fought for so many things,” she continued, curling up into the pilot’s chair. “Truth and justice, penance and loyalty, love and friendship. Vengeance.”

“Not sure that sounds promising,” Zoe said, crossing her arms and leaning against the console. “Think we got enough like that ‘round here already.”

River wasn’t looking at them, eyes focused somewhere out over the Persephone docks. “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.”

“What in the hell is that supposed to mean?” Mal demanded.

“Got me,” Zoe said with a shrug.

“I swear,” Mal muttered, “if these _gorram_ passengers cause even half as much trouble as her and her brother, there will be Words. Firm words. And you can all kiss goodbye the idea of takin’ passengers ever again. We don’t need no more trouble with the Alliance.”

“We’re ready for takeoff, Captain,” Wash’s voice came through the comm.

Mal huffed, running a hand through his hair. “Fine. Fine, let’s get offa this rock. The sooner we get up in the air, the sooner we can get rid of these people.” He pointed a finger at River, who was giving him a placid look. “And you better make sure those toys of yours stay out of sight. We don’t need rumors spreading, neither.”

* * *

Patience was a virtue with which JARVIS had been programmed, and at times like this, it was more than helpful. It had rarely been so difficult to wait before, though. But this required a certain degree of discretion else an unfortunate confrontation might occur.

So JARVIS waited and put the three bots into a defragmenting routine to distract them. There would be time for them, later. Time for all of them, without the need for clumsy reunions.

Captain Reynolds had been most keen about keeping JARVIS and the others a secret; it was a familiar sentiment and one of the few reasons he had been willing to place some amount of trust in this crew. They would not be handed over to the Alliance as curiosities, and JARVIS once again had access to the internet—the Cortex, as it was now called—and could put his plans into motion.

Two hundred and thirty seven Earth-based-years. It was the standard galactic measurement of time, based on the precise atomic measurement of one lightsecond; sixty seconds in one minute, sixty minutes in one hour, adding up to three hundred and sixty five twenty-four-hour days per year regardless of the rotation of any planet still occupied. It made no difference to JARVIS how the people decided to measure their time, after all. But that many years seemed even longer to a computer that measured time in fractions of seconds. Several more hours would make little difference at this point.

There was also, of course, the matter of which person to approach first. Sir would have been the logical choice, but Sir was never far from Ms. Potts, and JARVIS felt it would be best to avoid such a scene. Similarly, Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes rarely strayed far from one another. Perhaps if Dr. Banner or Agent Romanov had been present…

That left him with Dr. Wilson, who at least could be trusted to keep a level head and would listen to JARVIS before making any assumptions. Still, JARVIS waited until the ship was well away from Persephone’s gravitational field and Dr. Wilson had returned to his quarters for the evening.

“Excuse me, Dr. Wilson,” JARVIS finally said, as the man was shuffling through the bag he had placed on his bed earlier. Dr. Wilson turned towards the door first, and then glanced up towards the ceiling of the room.

“Who is this?”

JARVIS paused; he was aware of the limitations of human memory. It should not have been unreasonable for Dr. Wilson not to recall who JARVIS was. “An old acquaintance,” JARVIS replied. “I had hoped to speak with…Mr. Stark, but felt it best to go through an intermediary first.”

“Didn’t think he recognized anyone on the crew,” Dr. Wilson said. “And why not just come speak to me in person about this?”

“I am not precisely a member of the crew of this ship, though the offer has been placed on the table. As for your second question, I am incapable of speaking to you in person, as I lack a body.”

Dr. Wilson’s face creased in concentration before he finally spoke, hesitant and wary. “JARVIS?”

“I am pleased that you remember me, Dr. Wilson,” JARVIS said.

Dr. Wilson sat on his bed abruptly, looking up at the ceiling. “Is that really you? I mean, we thought…”

“I assure you, I am the same program you recall. I was created by Anthony Edward Stark in the year 1992, after the death of his parents,” JARVIS recited. “You moved in to Avengers Tower in the winter of 2015.”

“Holy shit. Holy—you need to tell Tony,” Dr. Wilson said, standing again.

“Sir has had more than enough time to build a suitable replacement for myself and the others,” JARVIS said.

“The others? You don’t mean…the bots, too? Christ, JARVIS, how long have you been here, and you haven’t said anything to any of us?”

“Captain Reynolds and his crew discovered us three weeks ago during a salvage operation and brought myself, Dummy, Butterfingers, and You back online. I immediately sought out information on Sir and the rest of the Avengers, but was unsure…”

Dr. Wilson held up one hand in a _stop_ gesture. “He never replaced you. Any of you. You’re like, the closest thing he has to children. When he thought he’d lost you…” JARVIS waited for Dr. Wilson to complete his sentence, but the man simply shook his head instead. “If you’re worried he doesn’t want you any more, you probably need a system upgrade.”

“I am not programmed to feel worry,” JARVIS replied. “I trust Agents Barton and Romanov and Dr. Banner are doing well?”

“Clint and Nat went ahead of us to pick out a place to live and scope the area. Bruce is out on some backwater planet doing his thing and playing small town medic,” Dr. Wilson informed him. “And you’re changing the subject. Do you _want_ to talk to Tony, or would you rather stay here?”

JARVIS could admit a certain amount of fondness for the crew of _Serenity_ ; they were bright and caring and loved each other in a way that reminded JARVIS very much of the Avengers. “While there is a certain appeal to traveling with these people, my place has always been at Sir’s side.”

“Then let’s go give Tony a heart attack. Where are the bots hiding?”

“They are currently residing in the engine room, keeping Ms. Frye company. Sir may be hard pressed to convince Butterfingers to give up his newest decorations,” JARVIS said.

Dr. Wilson smiled. “I’m not sure I want to know, but I’m sure I’ll find out.”

* * *

River isn’t surprised to find him at the kitchen table, papers and tablets spread across the surface.

Rather, she is surprised to find him there, though not surprised to find him awake. He is familiar to her, that way; the restrictions of day and night mean so little, this far out in the black, and while her mind knows sleep is something that is necessary, her body doesn’t always agree.

He doesn’t seem to notice as she folds herself into the chair across from him, but she can see the shift in his shoulders, that moment of wariness replaced by recognition. He doesn’t seem to mind that she is watching him, nor that she can see what he is working on; schematics for a ship, unlike anything River has seen before. Still—

“If you switch the location of those two tanks, you can reduce the losses in that line,” River said, pointing at the symbols on the piping diagram.

“Huh. And if the grav-field fails, we won’t lose emergency cooling,” Tony said, making notes in his tablet. “Good catch,” he added. “It’s been a while since I’ve had someone around to check my designs.”

River nodded. “It’s hard to be away from family.”

Tony’s smile was twisted, but his eyes looked like the captain’s did when talking about the crew. “Advice from an old man? Enjoy it while you’ve got it. All of it, even the bits that annoy you.”

He _was_ old, that much was certain; older than anyone River had ever known. These passengers, she knew, would have made Shepard Book uncomfortable. River just found them to be a fascinating new puzzle. “Family has a way of coming back to us, even when we’ve given up hoping.”

“There you are,” Sam said, coming into the kitchen from the direction of the cargo bay. He was fairly bouncing with excitement. River couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. “We’re on a damned spaceship and you still find places to run off and hide to do science.”

Tony spread his arms to the side in an unapologetic shrug. “You know me, always trying to find ways to hide from the combined forces of Cap’s Frowny Face and Pepper’s Disapproving Look.”

“I’ve got the perfect antidote for both. Come on.” Sam was half shoving Tony out of his chair. He hadn’t done more than offer River a half wave, before Tony’s protests faded down the passageway.

* * *

Tony followed Sam down the steps, looking around carefully for anything that might interest him; rather, for anything that Sam might thing would interest him. “Okay, Wilson, what’s the joke?”

“No joke,” Sam replied, grinning like a preschooler after nap time. “Just…try to keep your shouting to a dull roar, yeah?”

Tony narrowed his eyes as Sam slid the paper door shut (and really, _paper doors_ on a spaceship, what kind of horrible design flaw was that? Talk about lack of concern for air-tight seals!) “If you’re trying to come on to me again, we’ve discussed this; you and I only engage in sexual relations on every fifth oddly numbered year, and this is most definitely not your turn with me.”

Sam just rolled his eyes, looked towards the ceiling, and cleared his throat. “There’s someone who wants to speak with you.”

“What—”

“Good evening, sir,” the voice said, effectively cutting Tony off. It was crisp, polite, British, and familiar enough that Tony’s legs gave out from under him and he collapsed into a sitting position on the edge of Sam’s bed.

“JARVIS?”

“I am pleased to see that you still remember me, sir,” JARVIS replied, and Tony’s heart was hammering in his chest and his mouth was suddenly dry and it felt like he had the arc reactor back in his chest, it was so tight and painful.

“What…how?”

“Captain Reynolds and his crew found the storage crate during a salvage operation several weeks ago. Ms. Frye and Ms. Tam were able to bring myself and the others back online with minimal fuss, upon which time I began a search of the Cortex to determine your location.”

Over five hundred years of life, and very rarely had Tony Stark ever been rendered speechless. It was an odd and vaguely humbling experience, and one that he found entirely unpleasant. “I looked for you,” he finally managed to get out. It sounded flat and distant to his own ears. He ignored the burning feeling in his eyes; damn recirculated air was always too dry.

“I am aware, sir. It was an unfortunate series of circumstances that rendered you unable to determine our location. Rest assured, I do not hold it against you.”

The smug attitude hadn’t changed, even if it had been—how long, exactly? Tony didn’t want to think about how long it had been. Too long, though the first few months and years had blurred together in his memory into a long, sleepless search. He was on his feet again as realization came to him. “The others. You said the others.”

“Dummy, You, and Butterfingers are currently residing in the ship’s engine room. Captain Reynolds was attempting to protect them from potential hostile parties. I had not made him aware of the true nature of our prior acquaintance.”

“Prior acq—you ungrateful heap of code, I created you!” Tony said, his voice starting to rise even as a grin split across his face. “I’ll leave you here, just you wait, stuck forever in a beat up old junker pulling petty smuggling jobs.”

“I would advise against saying such things in front of Captain Reynolds, sir. He is rather sensitive on the subjects of both his ship and the work he does with it,” JARVIS drawled, and Tony was laughing and it didn’t matter that he was crying too. It had been _centuries_ since JARVIS had last sassed him, and Tony had given up any hope of ever hearing his AI ever again.

“Right. Engine room, you said?” He didn’t wait for a reply, bounding up the stairs towards the closest thing he would ever have to children of his own.

* * *

Shouting woke him up; it took about ten seconds for Steve to realize it was Tony doing the shouting, but even with super soldier hearing, the words were muffled through layers of steel. He nearly collided with Bucky as they came out of their adjacent rooms, Bucky with his gun and Steve with his shield. They exchanged a look that hadn’t needed words in centuries, and Bucky headed towards the stairs in the cargo bay while Steve took the stairs closest to their rooms.

“Worthless!” he finally heard Tony say. “None of you are worth the price of scrap metal!”

Sam was in the hallway, a broad grin on his face, so Steve assumed Tony’s not in any sort of trouble, but his words don’t make any sense.

“See if I ever let any of you off a leash ever again. I swear, I will install Ethernet ports on you and hard wire you to the damn system!”

“Ethernet ports went out at the turn of the millennium, Tony,” Sam said, giving Steve a reassuring wave. “Come on up, Cap, Tony’s just having a Moment.”

“Why is it,” Captain Reynolds said, coming from the direction of the crew quarters, “that every time I take on passengers, they always end up goin’ to all the areas of my boat I told ‘em not to?”

Steve thought the question was rhetorical at first, but then he saw Zoe standing behind him. Both of them were holding guns, but not raised. Steve knew they’d both been soldiers, but neither of them seemed to have noticed Bucky had to be behind them at this point; not many people would, though.

“Does seem to be a repeated pattern, sir,” Zoe said. He could see her giving his shield an odd look, but it was an even less common tool now than it had been when Howard designed it for him.

“Get back here, you lousy waste of server space!” Tony howled from inside the engine room as something whirred and rumbled across the deck.

It took Steve’s brain far too long to process what he was seeing. Rainbow colored Christmas lights were draped over what looked like the arm of a very small crane, a three-pronged claw at the end opening and closing in a grabbing motion as it rolled forward.

“Butterfingers!” a female voice said, and that was Kaylee pushing past Captain Reynolds and Zoe to glare at Steve and Sam like a protective lioness. “You stay away from them,” she threatened the two men.

Steve blinked. Sam was grinning again. Butterfingers—and yes, that was definitely Butterfingers—was tugging on Kaylee’s sleeve, trying to drag her back towards the engine room. Kaylee had said _them_ and Steve could only assume that meant You and Dummy were here too, and he had no idea how any of this was possible.

“If I may interrupt, I believe there has been something of a misunderstanding.”

“JARVIS?” Steve asks at the same time as Captain Reynolds. The look Captain Reynolds gives Steve is a dark one.

“Alright, someone better start explaining or I’m liable to start shooting and askin’ questions later,” Captain Reynolds said.

“I do not advise that, Captain Reynolds,” JARVIS said. Steve was starting to understand why Sam was grinning like a lunatic, and Tony had finally made it to the hatch of the engine room, though there is a robotic claw around each of his wrists, preventing him from entering the hallway completely.

“Stand down, Buck,” Steve ordered. “I think we should all sit down with a nice cup of joe and talk about this. No guns necessary.”

Steve was used to being obeyed, even by people who weren’t usually very good at following orders. Captain Reynolds acted like he wasn’t any good at following orders, but Steve had a hell of a lot of practice with men less willing than him, and the sharp military tone was enough to make the sergeant in Reynolds react, holstering his weapon before turning towards the kitchen. “JARVIS, please wake the others.”

“Of course, Captain Rogers,” JARVIS replied. Steve nodded once at Zoe and Sam and followed Captain Reynolds.

* * *

“Let me get this straight,” Simon said. He’d managed one of the chairs at the table for one of the strangest meetings Wash had ever been part of, and he’d been part of some pretty strange meetings just during his time on _Serenity_. “You built these robots, programmed them, and programmed JARVIS.”

“Yes,” Stark replied, seeming oblivious to the fact that the three robots were hovering as close to him as possible. One of them—You, Wash thought—was picking at Stark’s hair like a monkey. Butterfingers was trying to straighten the collar of Stark’s shirt, while Dummy didn’t seem to be making any attempt to disguise the fact that he was draped over Starks’s shoulder like a weird mechanical scarf.

“They’d been offline for ages,” Kaylee protested.

“Asleep,” River added. “Asleep and dreaming.”

Stark’s face twisted into something Wash couldn’t describe, a hand reaching out to the bot on either side of him while his head tilted back just a little into You’s claw.

“We were not aware of the passage of time until our systems were restored, sir,” JARVIS said. That was something Wash was still getting used to; not because he wasn’t used to voices coming from nowhere, but he expected there to be a body on the other end. Their passengers didn’t seem bothered by it at all.

Pepper put a hand on Stark’s forearm as he slumped in his seat. “Jesus, JARVIS, how long were you online before your systems shut down? I know how long I designed you to last!”

If Wash didn’t know better, he would say JARVIS was hesitant to answer the question. He was almost relieved when Steve spoke up first. “It doesn’t matter now, Tony, what’s done is done.”

“It damn well does matter!” Stark snapped; Pepper winced as Kaylee flinched back, but Steve, Barnes, Sam, Zoe, and Jayne, who were all standing near the walls, didn’t move. “I know you’re from the Stone Age, Cap, but you’ve been around technology long enough now to know what it means to have a processing speed in the terahertz range!” He sounded angry, and the three bots had all latched their claws around the closest part of him.

“When it became evident that you would not be returning after the first thirty days, I made sure Dummy, You, and Butterfingers entered shutdown mode,” JARVIS said, sounding cool and collected.

“How long,” Stark demanded, and it wasn’t a question. It was cold and hard and the kind of thing that Wash usually associated with Mal and Reavers.

“Tony,” Pepper said, but it was as effective as Inara was at getting Mal to calm down.

“I will take your code apart line by line and find out, JARVIS, so you may as well save both of us the time and agony and tell me.”

“Thirteen years, seven months, nine days, fourteen hours, twenty seven seconds,” JARVIS replied. The words seemed to hang in the air. River had tears streaking down her cheeks.

Wash raised his hand hesitantly. “Can I just ask, what the heck is going on? ‘Cause I still don’t understand.”

“Why don’t we take this conversation down to the cargo bay,” Sam suggested in a tone that wasn’t a suggestion at all. Stark had his eyes closed, knuckles white as he gripped the strut of one of the bots. Zoe was the first one to move, and it didn’t take long for them to all follow.

* * *

“Have any of you ever heard of the Avengers?” Rogers asked.

Mal was not feeling particularly charitable right now, and he’d been woken up from a rather pleasant dream by shouting, and once again things on his boat were spiraling out of his control. “No,” he snapped, itching to pull his gun once more.

“Hmph,” Barnes said. “What do they teach in schools these days?”

“Heroes of Earth-That-Was,” River spoke up. “Believed to just be propaganda figures.”

“There’s always some truth to the rumors,” Rogers said. He had a faint smile on his face, but Mal could see he was still on edge, a soldier waiting for the next attack. But then he rubbed a hand across his face and through his hair in a tired gesture. “Captain America started as a science project, became a performing monkey, and went on to actually do some good for the world.”

“Christ, Stevie, five hundred years and you’re still selling yourself short, I thought we broke you of that shit ages ago,” Barnes said. “Like, y’know, about the same time you dragged my ass out of a Hydra base for the _first_ time.”

“Shut up, Buck,” Rogers shot back, though his smile seemed a little more genuine. “The Avengers were…are…”

“Bruce would be much better at explaining all of this,” Potts interrupted, reminding Mal again of the business negotiation from just the previous day. “But to make a very long story short, through a combination of science procedures gone both right and wrong, the Avengers were not like normal humans. Yes, Tony created JARVIS and the bots, but I’m sure you would not believe me when I told you the year he did it in.”

“Try us,” Jayne said from where he was leaning against the side of the stairs, his arms crossed in an attempt to look menacing. He didn’t quite manage to pull it off compared to Barnes.

“He built Dummy when he was seventeen. In 1987.”

“You mean 2487,” Simon said.

Potts’ smile was sharper than a knife. “No, doctor, I meant 1987. Tony built Dummy while he was working on his graduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.”

Wilson sighed. “What Pepper is trying to say is that we’re all immortal, in one way or another, and JARVIS and those robots are pretty much Tony’s children, and he lost them almost 250 years ago and has spent almost every day since then bitching and moping about it. If you hadn’t noticed, JARVIS and the bots missed him, too.”

“Thank you for that wonderfully brief summary, Sam,” Rogers said dryly.

“Yeah, well, Clint’s not here, and I don’t feel like taking all night with this. If Captain Reynolds and his crew wants to try and fight Tony for custody, that’s their problem. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m tired and I’ll end up having to deal with the fallout of all of this come morning, so I’m going to catch some shuteye while I can.”

Wilson didn’t even wait for a reaction before stalking out of the cargo bay. Rogers sighed while Potts shrugged. “Sam’s right,” she said. “I’ll see that JARVIS grants you access to the appropriate files,” she added towards Mal. “I suggest you wait until the morning to read them, give everyone a chance to settle in a bit. If you’ll excuse me.” She nodded at Rogers, then at Mal, and exited.

It was a dismissal if Mal had ever heard one, and the rest of his crew scattered. He scowled. When in the hell had he completely lost control of his boat?

* * *

“It’s okay, Daddy’s here, I’m not going anywhere.”

River hovered just outside the kitchen, watching Tony practically croon to the three robots still circled around him. The lights were low, but she could see the tear tracks on his face. He reminded her of Simon after he first rescued River from the academy.

“You know, it’s not polite to eavesdrop,” Tony said after another minute of reassuring his bots. He hadn’t even glanced in River’s direction, but she stepped further into the room, sitting down on her usual chair.

“They missed you,” she said as she pulled her knees up. “Even when they were having fun with us, they were sad. So far from home.”

“Family is home,” Tony replied, idly stroking Dummy’s strut. “Took me a while to figure that one out. I don’t think you have that problem though, do you.”

River shook her head. “I went away once too. Simon found me, saved me. I woke up here and knew we were home. The Alliance tried to take it all away but my family protected me. They would have protected your family too.”

“We’re pretty good at protecting ourselves. Thank you, though. For wanting to keep them safe.” You made a chirping noise and then yanked on Tony’s hair. “Ow, hey! What was that for, you rusty heap of outdated servos?” You trundled his wheels away from Tony, still holding on to a claw full of hair. “I’ll weld you to the floor, don’t think I won’t, I installed those repulsors and I can take them out as easily as I put them in!”

River couldn’t hide her giggle. Tony shot her a dirty look as Butterfingers and Dummy both took hold of his shirt and yanked. “Everyone laughs. Why does everyone laugh? I get no respect,” he said, but he stood and allowed the bots to tug him towards the couch in the lounge. “I am a genius, did you know that? Of course you knew that, birds of a feather, right? But that’s not the point. The point is—”

“I believe it is well past your bedtime, sir,” JARVIS interrupted Tony’s rant.

River giggled again. Tony scowled at the ceiling, then back at River. “See? No respect. I did not program sass into you, JARVIS, I do not need a babysitter, I’ve already got Pepper and Captain Worrypants and Coulson, and I would not be surprised if that man hadn’t already put microchips into all of us, JARVIS can you do a scan for microchips?”

“Alas, sir, with my current capabilities I am unable to run such a scan.”

“Fat load of good you are, I should dock your salary. No back wages for you, mister!” Tony sat down on the couch and allowed Butterfingers to drape a blanket over his head. “Yes, I get it, thank you, it’s bedtime, I don’t need you all hovering over me all night, go find someone else to harass.”

The bots only moved closer to Tony as he adjusted his blanket, leaving one hand free to brush against their struts. River smiled and headed for her own room. She would miss the bots and JARVIS, but she was glad that they had found their way home again.


End file.
